Irish Studies

Thanks to generous donations by James J. Harkins, Patrick Garland, and the family of Francis J. Thompson, USF Special Collections is home to a growing Irish Studies collection. These materials are incorporated into courses taught at USF, including “The Irish in America”, taught each Spring. Students “adopt” an item from our Irish Studies collections, and submit a research essay based on their selection. Those items are featured here.

The Irish Studies digital collection consists of various types of materials, including dime novels, plays, sheet music and other curiosities. The collection will be augmented periodically as new items are digitized.

Collections

In Spring 2016, USF offered the course “The Irish in America” for the first time. Students were given the option to conduct oral histories with community members who claimed heritage from one or more of the seven Celtic nations: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Isle of Man, Cornwall, or Galicia. The students worked in pairs, prepared their questions ahead of time, and conducted the interviews either at USF Library or the Dunedin Historical Museum. These interviews were transcribed by the library’s Digital Scholarship Services unit, and are now available as part of the Celtic Heritage Oral History Program. This collection will grow each year as more students in the “Irish in America” class contribute their oral histories. Students in this class also “adopt” objects from USF Special Collections for mid-term research projects, many of which are featured in our “Irish Studies” digital collection here.Celtic Heritage Oral history program